Thing 17 Ex;lore Web 2.0 Award-Winning Apps

I have spent countless hours looking through a variety of information. I felt that unless you know exactly what you are looking for, researching, you also will spend a lot of time looking.
The two sites I found that would be of interest in the Library, were One Sentence. I showed it to one Language Arts teacher, who is very creative and loves to do different things in class and she liked it. She thought about using them as prompts. The other teacher that was interested, had emergency surgery, but I think he will find ways to use it as well.

The other site I thought would be helpful is the Med Story Beta under health. We have students on a continual basis looking for information on depression, suicide, cutting, anorexia etc. It would be a site that they could use to find up to date information.

I personally liked the cooking sites, I am always looking for quick ideas for cooking, when I cook!

Thing 16 Learning a New Language

In exploring Learning a New Language, I thought of several cool things. One, we have a secretary at work that just completed a course of study in Spanish. She lives in Erie and had to travel to Longmont on Saturday to take the classes. She is our attendence clerk and wanted extra help with her Spanish. It is almost becoming a requirement in many positions in this area, at the very least they will take a Spanish speaking person over a non-spanish speaking person.

My husband works at Seagate, they do most of their test equipment builds in China now. He has traveled extensively to Singapore in the past, and knows a little Mandarin, but wouldn't it be great if a trip comes up for him to brush up on his language skills.

Now, for our students. We all struggle anymore to speak and understand Spanish, and vice versa English. What a great tool to help at school.

Thing 15 Audio books and E books

In our library we just recently acquired play-a-ways. They are audio books, very small and only one book to be played. The costs run from $39.00 to $59.00. We check them out, without the headphones. We make them sign a ledger, with their ID number and explain they must pay for it, if it is lost. So far, and we have only had them since January, one was lost, paid for then found.

It makes me extremely nervous to hand them out, and we do not give them to students who have a bad history of loosing and not paying for books.

The kids love them, and we give them the book to go with it. So far it has been successful, and I think a great idea for 2nd language learners, and kids who struggle with reading. We have not tested yet whether or not there has been more success with the Accelerated Learning Program as a result.

I looked at several on line audio books. This is what I found:
Libri Vox, had not been updated since Nov. '07. However I did listen to a sample of a Sherlock Holmes book read by a volunteer who was British and it sounded good.
Audible.com, you had to pay a fee.
Learn out Loud - you had to pay a fee. I did listen to a short interview with a man who knew and had a romantic relationship with Ayn Rand. She was a huge influence in my eary, wild life. I love The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged. Today, I am not a follower.

Thing 14 Podcast

I just created an avatar, on volki. It was not as easy as I thought, it took me several hours of messing around with it. I hope maybe next time I will be able to do it much faster. Also looking at the different podcasts was very slow. I spent a good portion of my afternoon looking around at them. I think too many of them would not be accessible for our students. They wouldn't even let me log into them.

I spoke to a 7th grade teacher today and he indicated that he will be using podcasts next year. We plan on collaborating together. This is great news for me, because I really want to use some of the tools we have been learning about.

Thing 13 Experiment with Google Apps

I was able to creat an iGoogle account and put my tabs on Music, Politics, News and Weather. it is great. I can just go to my account and the days happenings are right there. It is a great tool, and want to put it on my computer at work so I can see it when I log in, in the morning. I am not sure how the students can use it, will have to explore more about all that is available. I will look forward to reading all the other blogs to get ideas.

I set up an iGoogle account, and have my weather, news, entertainment.... information posted when I bring it up.

Thing 12 Open Source Application

When I went in to look at Open Source, I found that I had already been invited by a group at my church. A new program was started a month ago, and in an effort to get feedback from a rather large group, they put it in an open source document. How cool!!!

We have trouble with our computer labs, a lot of vandalism happening. In an effort to clean up the labs, and control the situation, we have changed the locks. We put numbers on each computer and a seating chart to see who the culprits are.

I think the Open Source application could be helpful in this situation. Will definitely look into it, and ask for feed back from Cerks a Rockin!

Thing 11 Wiki

I like the fact that we will be putting into print how all of us do what we do. What an excellent idea. I like reading all the ideas that others are doing, and to put down exactly what I do. It will be good to see the ideas of others, and possibly learn new ways of doing old things.

Thing 10 Working with photos

Ahhh! the first signs of spring, and new life. I never appreciated Spring before moving to Colorado. In California it is always green and there are always flowers, and green everywhere. I love Spring. I love the variation of days, cooler, warmer, cooler etc. It is not cold, cold, cold, or hot, hot, hot. I love seeing things come back to life, I love hearing the birds again. It renewes my faith, that nothing stays the same, there is always change.

I learned a lot this afternoon, working with photos. I used microsoft editor, it was very easy.

Thing 9 Technology

I really don't have much in the way of technology. I use a cell phone, but only for calls, not photos, or text messaging. I just got my first thumb drive, and I like putting my photos on it, but I only use it for this class. We do not have much technology in the library, I realize that is the direction we are moving, but not very many people in my building use a lot of gadgets, even the young ones. It is rather amazing to me.

Okay, after much deliberation I decided that my motorcycle helmet is a good technological gadget. It is a flip up which means that the whole bottom half of the helmet lifts up so I can talk, and even eat with it on. It also has air vents to cool me off when it gets hot in there. My husband and I just recently found some friends that love to ride, so when the weather is nice we take a short ride, find somewhere great to stop and eat, and then cruze home.